Cornwall trounce Spot Valley to stay atop zone

WESTERN BUREAU:

TWELVE-TIME champions Cornwall College thrashed Spot Valley High School 4-0 in Zone A in their clash in the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup football competition at Cornwall College yesterday.

Dominating from early in the first half with the right tactical moves, Cornwall went ahead after eight minutes when Deshawn Evans scored from the penalty spot.

Cornwall doubled their lead in the 36th minute. A good build-up preceded the play and a cross was met by Lincoln Cox who put his team further ahead.

In the second half, Spot Valley fought hard to stay in the game, but they were no match for the home team. And as pressure mounted, Cornwall extended their lead through striker Cox who scored the third goal in the 58th minute.

Showing off his dribbling skills on Spot Valley’s goalkeeper Dravid Grant, Cornwall’s Dane Buckley easily got past him and buried the ball into the net while scoring the fourth goal in the 80th minute.

The result lifted Cornwall to the top of Zone A with 10 points, and handing Spot Valley their third loss of the season.

Veteran coach of Cornwall College, Dr Dean Weatherly, was pleased with his team’s performance.

“For Cornwall not to advance in the second round would be a travesty. We have to take it one game at time, we can’t jump too far ahead but moving on is our goal right now. Spot Valley gave a spirited run but in the end we overran them, which was expected given the type of football we are playing right now,” he confidently said.

Weatherly added: “Today’s game we were trying out new things and seeing if the team could gel some more. It is a new paradigm in what we are asking of them and we are seeing where it is coming to the fore little by little, so I was quite pleased with it.”

FAILED GAME PLAN

Michael Senior, coach of Spot Valley High, said the game plan was not executed.

“Our game plan was thrown through the window when we gave up an early penalty. Today I believe that Cornwall College wanted the ball more as we were a bit hesitant to press and as a result we gave up a lot of 50-50 (challenges),” Senior explained.

“We saw some players that were getting jaded,” he added. “I guess the occasion was too big for them, so we had to make the changes. This year’s programme we are rebuilding, so we wanted to get the players organised and getting them used to a system of play.”

Other results:

Irwin High 2 Green Pond High 0

Maldon High 2 St James High 2

Holmwood Technical 3 Knox College 0